Digital Forensic Technician

Peraton•Arlington, VA

2d•Onsite

About The Position

Peraton is seeking a Digital Forensic Technician to support Federal Strategic Cyber programs within our Cyber & Intelligence sector. This is an on-site role in Arlington, VA. In this role, you will perform network administration, including full system backups and lifecycle equipment maintenance, and develop procedures and schedules for internal network backups. You will maintain and oversee computer network servers and physical infrastructure, and support workstation and forensic hardware/software tools. A key aspect of this role involves applying criminal rules of evidence preservation and custodianship, and conducting digital forensic analysis using hardware, forensic software, operating systems, and virtual environments. You will also perform general administrative duties and work with virtualization technologies to develop, deploy, troubleshoot, and maintain virtual environments. The position operates within a scientific environment requiring strict standards and involves maintaining, patching, and updating digital forensics lab systems to ensure compatibility and effectiveness. You will install, troubleshoot, configure, and maintain on-premises network infrastructure, servers, workstations, and peripheral equipment in alignment with CIF and Department standards, including installing, replacing, configuring, and optimizing network routers and switches. Validating and managing network backup and disaster recovery procedures, identifying infrastructure strengths, weaknesses, bottlenecks, and opportunities for improvement are also core responsibilities. You will collaborate with IT, management, and other stakeholders to gather insights and requirements, and research emerging technologies and best practices in IT infrastructure, including cloud computing (e.g., Azure), virtualization, security protocols, and remote access solutions. Developing risk mitigation strategies and contingency plans, and managing and monitoring digital forensics cloud systems, ensuring security and operational efficiency are crucial. Administering user accounts, network rights, and system access for 20–40 users, and ensuring the availability of required hardware, software, and tools for digital evidence analysis are also part of the role. Finally, you will create and update documentation for CIF-hosted systems.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree and a minimum of 5 years of relevant experience; minimum of 3 years with a Masters degree. An additional 4 years of experience will be considered in lieu of the bachelors degree.
Must either possess and maintain, or obtain prior to starting date, one of the following professional certifications: Network+ CE; Server+ CE; CCNA, or CCNP
Demonstrated working knowledge and proficiency in various software systems and architectures, communications protocols, and network hardware devices.
Demonstrated strong critical thinking, creativity, sound judgment, and awareness to recognize when to seek leadership guidance.
Ability to collaborate effectively and professionally with leadership, peers, forensic analysts, law enforcement, prosecutors, CIF customers, and other stakeholders at all levels to deliver high quality forensic products.
Ability and willingness and ability to travel for on-scene evidence seizures, training, and/or testimony.
Commitment to staying current on advancements in network architecture.
U.S. Citizenship required.
The ability to obtain an interim Secret security clearance before start date.
The ability to obtain a final Top Secret security clearance.

Nice To Haves

Hands-on proficiency with Azure cloud platform, Linux/Windows administration, networking fundamentals (IP addressing, subnetting, TCP/IP), scripting, and automation tools
Knowledge of Azure Kubernetes Service including cluster architecture design, provisioning and identity access management.
Integrate new capabilities (e.g., Azure cloud solutions) with the existing laboratory operations.
Knowledge of Microsoft SQL Server including database maintenance and optimization.

Responsibilities

Perform network administration, including full system backups and lifecycle equipment maintenance.
Develop procedures and schedules for internal network backups.
Maintain and oversee computer network servers and physical infrastructure.
Support workstation and forensic hardware/software tools.
Apply criminal rules of evidence preservation and custodianship.
Conduct digital forensic analysis using hardware, forensic software, operating systems, and virtual environments.
Perform general administrative duties.
Work with virtualization technologies to develop, deploy, troubleshoot, and maintain virtual environments.
Operate within a scientific environment requiring strict standards.
Maintain, patch, and update digital forensics lab systems to ensure compatibility and effectiveness.
Install, troubleshoot, configure, and maintain on-premises network infrastructure, servers, workstations, and peripheral equipment in alignment with CIF and Department standards.
Install, replace, configure, and optimize network routers and switches.
Validate and manage network backup and disaster recovery procedures.
Identify infrastructure strengths, weaknesses, bottlenecks, and opportunities for improvement.
Collaborate with IT, management, and other stakeholders to gather insights and requirements.
Research emerging technologies and best practices in IT infrastructure, including cloud computing (e.g., Azure), virtualization, security protocols, and remote access solutions.
Develop risk mitigation strategies and contingency plans.
Manage and monitor digital forensics cloud systems, ensuring security and operational efficiency.
Administer user accounts, network rights, and system access for 20–40 users.
Ensure availability of required hardware, software, and tools for digital evidence analysis.
Create and update documentation for CIF-hosted systems.